The Kentucky Sports Figure of the Year will be one of these 10. Which would you pick?
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2019 Herald-Leader Kentucky Sports Figure of the Year
Click here to read all of our stories and watch all of our videos unveiling the winner of the Lexington Herald-Leader’s 39th annual Kentucky Sports Figure of the Year award.
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The winner of the 2019 Lexington Herald-Leader Kentucky Sports Figure of the Year Award is going to make history.
On Tuesday, around 9 a.m., the identity of the 39th winner of the Kentucky Sports Figure of the Year Award will be revealed on Kentucky.com. Full coverage of the winner, the top 10 in voting and the full results will be in Wednesday’s print editions of the Herald-Leader.
As it has been since 1981, the award is voted on by members of the Kentucky sports media from across the commonwealth. For 2019, 169 media members — the second highest participation in the history of the award — rendered their vote on who represented the best in Kentucky sports.
One of 10 finalists — which we revealed over the past week on Herald-Leader social media accounts — will be the 2019 Kentucky Sports Figure of the Year.
Obviously, what kind of history will be made is determined by who wins. In alphabetical order, these are the 10 from whom the award’s winner will come:
▪ Lynn Bowden. The Kentucky Wildcats football star will seek to follow in the footsteps of former UK teammate Josh Allen, the 2018 Kentucky Sports Figure of the Year.
Since the Herald-Leader began presenting the award, UK football players have never won in back-to-back years.
▪ Walker Buehler. The Los Angeles Dodgers pitching ace, a Henry Clay High School graduate, would be only the second Major League Baseball player elected Kentucky Sports Figure of the Year.
Ashland product Brandon Webb, then a star for the Arizona Diamondbacks, won for 2006, the year in which he was voted the National League Cy Young Award winner.
▪ Abbey Cheek. The ex-Kentucky Wildcats softball star third baseman, named 2019 National Player of the Year by the National Fastpitch Coaches Association, would be the first softball player to ever win the Kentucky Sports Figure of the Year Award.
▪ Asia Durr. The former Louisville Cardinals star guard would be the first women’s basketball player named Kentucky Sports Figure of the Year.
Angel McCoughtry, the only U of L women’s player to score more career points than Durr’s 2,485 points, came close to winning in 2009. McCoughtry finished second, only 39 points in the voting behind winner John Calipari.
Valerie Still, the ex-UK star, was second behind Roy Kidd in the 1982 voting.
▪ Leah Edmond. The former Kentucky Wildcats star, a two-time American Volleyball Coaches Association First Team All-American and two-time SEC Player of the Year, would be the first volleyball player to win the Kentucky Sports Figure of the Year Award.
▪ Rhyne Howard. In addition to being the first women’s basketball winner, the UK Hoops phenom would be only the third college hoopster, male or female, to win the Kentucky Sports Figure of Year Award for their freshman season performances.
One-and-done era Kentucky men’s stars John Wall (2010) and Anthony Davis (2012) won the award after their freshman seasons.
▪ Lamar Jackson. The former Louisville Cardinals and current Baltimore Ravens star quarterback, a Pompano Beach, Fla., product, would be the first professional athlete who did not grow up in the commonwealth to win the Kentucky Sports Figure of the Year Award.
Jackson, the 2016 Kentucky Sports Figure of the Year winner, would also be only the sixth person to win the award more than once, joining Roy Kidd (1981, 1982); Richie Farmer (1988, 1992 as part of The Unforgettables); Rick Pitino (1990, 1996, 2013); Tim Couch (1995, 1997) and Kenny Perry (2003, 2008).
▪ Ja Morant. The electrifying former Murray State point guard would be the first Racers men’s basketball player to be named Kentucky Sports Figure of the Year.
▪ Scott Satterfield. After leading Louisville to an 8-5 season in his first year as head coach, Satterfield would join John L. Smith (2001) as the only U of L football head men to win the Kentucky Sports Figure of the Year Award.
Ex-Louisville coaches Howard Schnellenberger (1990) and Bobby Petrino (2006) each came in second.
▪ Mark Stoops. A Kentucky Wildcats football coach has only won the Kentucky Sports Figure of the Year Award once — Jerry Claiborne in 1983.
Fourth a year ago, Stoops is again bidding to become the second football top Cat to claim the award.
Whatever history is made when the winner of the 2019 Lexington Herald-Leader Kentucky Sports Figure of the Year Award is revealed Tuesday morning, this much is clear:
Our relatively small state continues to punch way above its weight in producing notable sports achievers.
This story was originally published January 26, 2020 at 8:23 PM.
